At some points, it hardly seemed to matter what Palin was saying. Whenever she started her answer with a folksy aphorism or a jokesy, "Oh there ya go again, Joe," it was literally impossible to hear the rest of her answer over the jeers.

Still, for all the disgust in the air, many of the young Miamians lingering in Tap Tap's colorfully painted bar after the debate drinking Prestige and Coronas agreed that Palin hadn't done quite as badly as they'd expected.

And there's no doubt that Joe Biden worked his Delaware magic on the partisan crowd, which went nuts for his zings from that "bridge to nowhere" crack to trampling all over Palin on foreign policy to the catch in his throat when talking about his son who was critically injured in a car accident.

Bush comparisons aside, the signature cheer of the night came when Biden slammed Dick Cheney and Palin for suggesting that she shared his expanded view of the vice president's powers.

Tim Elfrink is an award-winning investigative reporter, the managing editor of the Miami New Times and the co-author of "Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era." Since 2008, he's written in-depth pieces on police corruption, fatal shootings and social justice issues across South Florida. He's won the George Polk Award and has been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.